out of boston we'll have the latest from the explosions at the boston marathon finish line reports of numerous injuries and deaths are coming in will give you an update on the situation. and this weekend protesters gathered in d.c. to shout no to drones they spent their time in front of the white house hoping to be heard by the very administrator in that expanded the drone program more on that just ahead. and the people of venezuela elected a new president over the weekend to go chavez's handpicked successor nicolas maduro won in a razor thin victory more in the election results coming up. it's monday april fifteenth eight pm in washington d.c. i'm megan lopez and you are watching r t well we begin this hour with continuing developments out of boston two explosions went off this afternoon near the finish line of the boston marathon we are just getting word from the police commissioner

we did earlier this afternoon in a press conference that happened and they said that there was another explosion outside of the j.f.k. library as well take a look at this unbelievable video. the latest estimates put it at two people dead one of whom we've just learned was an eight year old little boy at least one hundred ten others have been injured and eight children of those were injured as well those numbers are expected to keep changing as the situation continues to of two fold that is according to the boston globe i now want to bring in an eyewitness joining us now on the phone is it kara ken ball kara thank you for joining us now we're so happy that you are safe first

of all where were you in relation to the bombings. i was in between the finish line and where the bombs went off i was probably about fifteen yards from where they were detonated and tell me what happened what were your reactions give me give me a layout of what you saw so i live very close to there i live actually about three blocks away on the corner of dartmouth street i was there with my sister she had left work early and she when the first bomb went off there was just a silence that went over the crowd and then immediately scream started happening and she grabbed my hand and said just start running so we started running but the place where we were at where the stage comes out where people run through the finish line and the crowd bottlenecks and it became immediately very very scary situation where a woman was on her bike and had fallen and people were just on the able to get out and at that point the second bomb went off and i that was when i really fun to me

that this is something that i could perhaps die from and i think that was when i became more of a this wasn't just an accident or an electrical problem that this was a definitely an intentional act incident you know you see and you know i understand that you were very very close to walk me through the moments afterward after you got past that bottleneck what were you hearing from authorities what were you told to do and where did you end up going so we rounded the corner on to dartmouth street and started running as fast as we could to my apartment on beacon and dartmouth and we ran into. a firefighter who turned to ice and said what are you guys doing what just happened and that was when i realized that there was an extremely dangerous situation and we turned to them in tears and said two bombs just went off and i said well what do you need two bombs just went off and he said well what it was two bombs just went off like what aren't you understanding so they told us to remain calm and go back to sort of pointed us in any direction that they

could that was was away from where things were detonated and then they immediately turned and started sprinting towards where the bombs have gone off absolutely and what are you hearing from officials tonight just being in the boston area and also can you talk a little bit about kind of your community obviously you were there as a spectator talk about that so i feel the the sad part about boston has always been a city that people give a hard time about but it's such a welcoming and amazing place and i think it's just tragic that there's beautiful event that so many people raise so much money for such great causes to have it. tragically affected by something so scary and so terrible as this and i think the community of boston is known for its sense of community and its belief and the strength of a a group of people joining together so i'm hoping that that sense of community as i've seen i mean i'm so inspired by the people who are running to the hospital to

donate blood and things like that and kyra we learned a very short amount of time left but i want to ask you just because you were at the event overall would you say that the marathon was organized very well the dance that event i mean was there a heightened security presence. yeah i think it was certainly organized so i think . where i was at least where it was i think it was there were enough people at the end of the marathon there especially with medical assistance that's brought to people at the end of the marathon that they were able to respond almost immediately so i do believe that they did certainly the best that they could i don't think there was anything that they could have done to that event this eyewitness kara campbell thank you for joining us and stay safe thank you now we'll bring in our to correspondent marina porn i asked to use that reporting aren't a new york studio and she's got the latest information coming out marina what is the latest coming out of boston from the boston officials. well according to boston

officials clearly there is an investigation a significant investigation ongoing and they are reportedly questioning a person of interest at a local boston hospital post a person of interest does not necessarily mean suspect but according to reports a person of interest is being questioned there have been other reports that some surveillance video picked up a suspicious looking man carrying some backpacks about twenty minutes before the. boston marathon bombs went off near the finish line and u.s. president barack obama said he would put all his federal departments and agencies at the disposal of boston if that city needs help from washington washington will provide it u.s. president barack obama also give it give a very short press conference saying that the u.s. still does not know who did the attacks why they would do something like this but

whoever is responsible will be held accountable obama did not use the words terrorism or bombs when he briefly updated the media for what i say was probably less than three minutes now marina as you had just mentioned you reported earlier that a twenty year old saudi man had been detained now was news that was according to the new york post but then police officers in and boston actually denied those claims is there any new information about that man in particular is that the man that's at the hospital being questioned that you know that's something that i cannot confirm and that's right we should remind our viewers if they were watching a few a few hours back that the new york post did did report twenty year old saudi national was being considered a suspect and being heavily guarded at a hospital a few hours after that report came out the boston police commissioner said that that is not true there is no suspect in. custody whatsoever nobody being held at

a hospital but as far as i know as far as i last checked the new york post was still standing by the story and citing sources from boston for the facts so it's not clear who is telling the truth there you have to believe the police commissioner i would at least the new york post is standing by the story and we do not know if that is the same person that was mentioned in the story that is complete now being considered a person of interest in boston are to correspondent marina thank you so much for bringing us those updates and now it's time to look at a bigger perspective of this attack and the state's preparedness and to do that i'm joined now by sue mercer mansour excuse me sue is the president of the manor ridge group and she's also tom ridge is former executive director of the department of homeland security office of domestic preparedness thank you so much for joining us on such short notice first of all can you give us your professional analysis of the

situation well it's i don't know any more than than what you've been reporting obviously but it certainly seems like a group or individuals who want to make a statement you know the problem today is we don't know what statement they want to make and so it's difficult for law enforcement to counter this kind of thing when it particularly if it's only one or two individuals who are perpetrating it there's no way to penetrate the so unless one of them gives the other one up so it's a very difficult thing for law enforcement now so as i was mentioning earlier this happened at a major sporting event there was already a heightened level of security at the boston marathon with a very large police presence so how can something like this kind of slip through the cracks in your opinion. well i don't think it's slipped through the cracks necessarily i think they have done an excellent job of trying to prevent this kind

of thing from happening all over the country for every special event but when you have a large open venue like that you can't have everyone going through metal detectors that's not possible you can remove a lot of trash cans you can have a big security pleasant presence both both uniformed and on uniforms so that you know people feel protected and there is security but you just can't prevent everything that's that's difficult to do it's like israel in their shopping malls they have people go through metal detectors in clothes shopping malls you can't do that in an open market and that's indeed where a lot of the terrorist acts occur so you can't prevent everything you can only look to prevent the most logical thing from happening now so you have quite an extensive resume you are a twenty five year veteran of the f.b.i. and as i mentioned using any twenty year excuse me twenty year veteran of the f.b.i.

and as i mentioned you served under the former secretary of homeland security tom ridge and you spent years helping state and local jurisdictions prepare for prevent and respond to tragedies such as this so in your opinion does this amount to a terror attack and i want to carefully using that word because that often brings up connotations of other meanings. yes well clearly i think if it's determined that this act was for a political or social objective then yes it was a terrorist act and seem it seems on the surface from what we know right now that it certainly seems like it's pointing towards terrorism i don't know of any kind of natural occurrence like an exploding sewer cap they they ruled that out you know those kinds of things and it probably wasn't so i think we're looking at some kind of a statement here and indeed terrorism is designed to instill fear and people and to try to change people's minds although to me that seems very counter-intuitive i

don't think anyone's mind is going to be changed about whatever this group or individual is trying to profess i don't think they're going to win too many hearts with this method sure now so as i mentioned you've been helping you help for quite a lot along amount of time people plan and prepare for this and give us some insight of what is going on right now what are they doing to assess the situation and to move forward. well i'm sure they're interviewing everyone they possibly can find who was there before the bombing occurred i'm sure they're looking at all surveillance cameras in the areas any building cameras that may be there for banks or hotels or any other kind of building that may have had a security camera i'm sure all of those tapes are being assessed and process i'm sure they're they've got a hotline i'm sure established to get tips that people may have people who may have seen something people who may have gone home and looked at their film footage or

their camera footage and found something suspicious in there so i think it's a compilation now of all the facts that they can possibly garner to try to piece this together because in a particularly in a bombing situation it is a jigsaw puzzle and you have to reconstruct it and find out what it looked like prior to that detonation so marsar i really appreciate you coming on so as a consultant with the manner we appreciate the now assess sure my pleasure thank you. now as a result of the two explosions at the boston marathon security across the country has been beefed up including right here in washington d.c. at the white house correspondent liz wahl was there and she brings us this report well one thing is clear walking around the city washington d.c. is under heightened security where i'm standing right now on pennsylvania avenue which is the closest that we can get to the white house as you can see there is yellow caution tape surrounding the perimeter of the white house as you know it is

tourist season so usually there are throngs of people throngs of tourists in this area on the pedestrian walk viewing the white house i spoke to a member of the secret service asked him why the execute he said that this is in response to the tragedy that happened today in boston and even just walking around the city you can get a sense i saw of members of law enforcement with bomb sniffing dogs so clearly a heightened sense of security here now of course we did hear from the white house we know that they are aware of the situation we know that. the administration is in contact with state and local authorities but from what i understand the extra security is not in response to any direct threat but these are just precautionary measures that are now being taken here in washington liz wahl r.t. while the u.s. drone program is quickly rising in the american consciousness and that has spawn some vocal critics on saturday protesters gathered in front of the white house to

show their opposition to the program for an in-depth look at the scene this weekend breaking the set producer many below reports. dozens of protesters gathered in washington rallying against the obama administration's controversial drone program these protesters are rallying for an end to the use of armed drones in the middle east in asia and africa and everywhere else there's two elements about drones that are particularly insidious it means that a war can be waged a real war but all the bleeding is done on one side so it shields the american people from the horrors the grotesque nature of war and allows the wars to be carried on in secret you see in the iraq war there were massive demonstrations drones are are being used to make sure that the american people are not part of the political equation secondly drones are used to violate every nation sovereignty the obama administration flies them in wherever he wants and kills whoever he wants that's not legal the idea of killer robots attacking people from the skies flying

overhead constantly is just i mean it's terrifying it's it's a scary sign of the future and it's a scary sign of the way warfare has changed and with the lack of transparency the american public deserves to know more about what's being done and. this latest protest organized at the doorstep of the obama white house is one one of dozens of nationwide demonstrations happening in the month of april the large turnout in washington for this rally is a testament to how the issue of targeted assassinations abroad is growing in the public conscience throughout the month there are going to be actions focusing on cia involvement in the drone program assassinations there are going to be actions focusing on the use of drone surveillance at the border and militarization of our border across the u.s. human rights and civil liberties activists continue to organize and mobilize for more rallies just like this one in an effort to turn the tide on the use of attack

drones putting pressure on lawmakers and the administration to put an end to this. that has already cost the lives of thousands of innocent civilians abroad the rock below for our to see the white house well just six weeks after a longtime venezuelan ruler. passed away a voters headed to the polls to elect a new leader this past weekend and what is being described as a razor send victory chavez's handpicked successor nicolas maduro won the election sunday night meeting opposition leader and drink a cup of us right on ski fifty point six percent to forty nine point one percent now to dope against his six year term and he already has a lot on his plate from the country's energy ventures to its economy r t international correspondent tess are selah has more the campaign has not been long but neither has a big short on passion well we're here in the district that really has support for the. so-called successor oh but chad as you can see from all the good to hear the

people really having a very festive attitude and a lot of them selling paraphernalia halley get shot this is really a bastion of chavez's support many people tell me of the kind of benefit that they have gained for fourteen years of having taught us as president talking about education talking about the social mission which really is a cornerstone of his popularity and the people here are very enthusiastic about giving their opinion about why they support chavez let's talk to the gentleman over here for him we have learned a lot. he was chosen right. here. we can go forward with but we've got proof we can do nothing it's clear that for many people here who were staunch supporters of chavez a huge part of playing here is the loyalty they have. voting for. well over on the other side of the city where here in the district where the main

opposition candidate is the governor and expected he has a lot of support here and most of the people that you see now on the street here have told me that they have indeed voted for to listen when you asked him why they did so the word that really comes so repeatedly from their answers is they want a change or let's talk to one of those who actually voted for this. why did you vote for it we. vote for a couple years because. he is the only one that could give us a better future i don't know. so as you heard her say actually that opinion is repeated and resonated among the supporters of that they say that they again they want change from after fourteen years of chavez and also it's noticeable that a lot of students and a lot of younger people who are also were coming out to districts supporting him and voting for him. a new man is now at the helm and he inherits childless

a socialist legacy a country with some of the world's largest oil reserves and also a nation plagued with longstanding problems such as crumbling infrastructure and double digit inflation of which its citizens are all too aware the lack of security is killing us and statistics prove many people have died at night you can't leave your home this is a serious problem. i want change by corruption that's the brahmin but it's about the corruption the base of the broader economy. everything growing old but brolin live and it's really the corruption the oil price the high. the government you know has a lot. of probably it's spending so we are in a lot of that we now know the winner but the narrow victory has left venezuela polarized the new leader to us faces an uphill battle not just to mend the

country's economy and improve living standards but also to match up to his charismatic predecessor who casts a very long shadow not just within the country but beyond its borders as well yes or cilia r.t. . well it was quite the scene on k. street in washington d.c. over the weekend when activists dressed as one hundred dollars bells and protested the close ties between lobbyists and politicians bragging that producer david was there and she has more. it wasn't your typical five k. walk thanks for. hundreds of people poured into the nation's capital to walk three miles in one hundred dollar bills suits all the bring attention to a problem they say has gone too far. with politicians needing to raise an enormous amount of money for political campaigns it's virtually

impossible for regular ordinary people voters to have their voices heard and represented on capitol hill you don't have to representation of each individual in the in the country you have a representation of a corporation and shareholders of the corporation are actually making the decisions for the country that's exactly why these demonstrators have come together walking from the lobbyists packed k. street all the way to the capitol where they awarded capitol police in jest for doing what they say congress hasn't been able to do any big bloody. gradually. this show of discontent didn't happen overnight it's a movement that's been gaining traction since the two thousand and ten citizens united supreme court case a historic ruling that created loopholes to campaign election laws by granting corporations personhood but the impact was perhaps most evident in the two thousand and twelve election that shattered all previous records of campaign financing in

fact according to the center for responsive politics campaigns raised an estimated six billion dollars would two point six billion of that spent on the race for the white house alone and what critics find most alarming is that in the same election only point three percent of ordinary americans contributed two hundred dollars or more meaning the majority of election cash came from big donors and corporations it's a reality josh silver says we should all pay attention to wake up and realize you're just. not going to win unless you stop pay attention to money and politics become part of the solution if we get enough of those nothing millions then we'll build something real today in washington is the beginning one proposed solution gaining traction is the american anti corruption act a piece of legislation that would prohibit members of congress from raising funds from the interest they regulate and require members to disclose fund raising activities and it's a bill that's helping this for actions like this one around the country if this act

were to pass each registered voter would receive a one hundred dollars tax rebate that they can then take and donate to a candidate of their choosing it's a law experts say could get the big money out while getting the people back in a mirror david r.t.t. washington world renowned physicist stephen hawking helped us explain how the universe began and now he's talking about the end of humanity according to hawking this and will come as soon as one thousand years from now for more on this production and what we can do to save ourselves the residents laurie harvest.

i am. i love books about space exploration futurism and basically anything that has to do with the advancement of humanity i really want to do was as i had to go i love to think about our potential and the achievement that humankind might spread of proudly across the universe one day so legendary british physicist stephen hawking was recently touring the medical facility at cedars sinai out in l.a. where he is that something that really piqued my interest side bar by candace electronic voice synthesizer have a british accent is that too much to ask am i the only person that has ever thought about that ok anyway this is what the very awesome dr hopping said during his tour recently quote we must continue to go into space for humanity if you understand how the universe operates you control it in a way and then he added this he said we won't survive another thousand

years without escaping our fragile planet what's the no way we have to survive more than a thousand years if i'm going to colonize the milky way bend the fabric of space and time go through morgan freeman's wormhole make contact with parallel universes rip back time travel and all the bat at those years just doesn't it should be enough time really especially considering how we've already got things crawling around on the surface of mars in the moon we should be able to figure out an off planet colony but the thing is we've. do everything so slow and we do everything so slowly because of one attribute that is pretty blatant to me that thwarting attribute is greed everything time we have a good intention like figuring out new ways to feed people or provide alternative energy sources or cure diseases someone sees it as a way to make a profit and ruins it for everyone and since everyone wants their piece of the pie

we've made this incredibly tangled web of bureaucracy of procedure and power as the end watered down accountability that slows us down even more why people are obsessed with getting rich i don't know it could be the way our media and celebrity culture rammed the desire for money down our throat but why do people continuously fall for that i don't know everything we do is slow down because of the greed that is built into our system and now i fear ultimate downfall if stephen hawking is right and we have less than a thousand years to get off planet earth or we become extinct and there's a good chance of our greed slowing us down to the point where you missed the boat to continuing humanity completely for ever prove the god and then what it was all for nothing is the big lesson here humanity with this

great experiment with all this potential that was undone by its own greed are we going to just basically be one big trite parable for the peril of greed a parable that no one will learn from because the wrong be idea was around to hear it oh my god that is so. i really hope it isn't our fate so you better get it together humanity get your eyes off the window and our end to the ball if we're going to make it we've got a lot of were. to do tonight let's talk about that by following me on twitter at the residence. and as we enter the brave new world of technological advances we have a new friend look at this this is courtesy of the defense advanced research projects agency as well as the team at boston dynamics.

known as the protection ensemble test mannequin or peckman robot for short this guy is outfitted with systems that quote simulate human physiology petn and can run he can jump and he can even do the splits the main goal is to track chemicals that might see it through safety gear being tested prior to being released in the field the robots intended uses to help with situations like chemical spill. but you the people in arkansas could use one of those right now no word yet on how many other talents peckman has to unveil as of yet and that's going to do it for now for more on the stories we covered go to youtube dot com slash r t america follow me on twitter at meghan underscore lopez. to slow.